23rd Annual Student Research Conference
Quantitative Measurements of the Structure of Endothelial Cell Networks
David M. Hayes* and Bo M. Forrester
Dr. Jason E. Miller and Dr. Robert W. Baer (A. T. Still University), Faculty Mentors
Angiogenesis inhibitors have been proposed as promising cancer therapeutics. The effects of angiogenesis agonists and antagonists on endothelial cell network formation are studied in vitro. Quantitative measurement of endothelial cell network architecture has proved challenging until recently. We present the Vascular Network Toolkit (VNT), an ImageJ plug-in that performs automated quantitative measurements on images of in vitro endothelial cell networks. We present the results of an angiogenesis inhibitor assay as analyzed by the VNT. Traditional measurements used included total vascular length and mesh area. We also propose graph theoretic measurements as potentially better descriptors of network architecture.
Keywords: angiogenesis, image analysis, graph theory
Topic(s):Mathematical Biology
Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 1-4
Location: MG 1098
Time: 8:45